Many conventional computing devices, including mobile phones and tablets, are configured to present a “lock screen” when powered on or when transitioned from a power-saving state to a full-power state. The lock screen comprises a visual interface that is displayed before the user has entered a passcode (or supplied some other credential, such as one or more other biometric authentications) that is required to activate the full functionality of the device. If the user cannot supply appropriate credentials, the user cannot get past the lock screen and the device will remain in a locked state or a reduced functionality state.
Since a lock screen can be viewed by anyone having physical or visual access to the device, including unauthorized persons, most existing systems restrict the display of certain types of information while the device is operating in a locked state. For example, the lock screen may only display basic information such as the date and time, a signal reception indicator, a network indicator, and/or a battery status indicator. Likewise, some devices that utilize lock screens typically limit the types of functionality that can be accessed via the lock screen. For example, the lock screen may be used to display received text messages but may prohibit a user from responding to them. In another example, some existing systems can block notifications generated by certain applications from appearing on a lock screen, such as preview notifications of all text messages. However, these all-or-nothing policies can be overly restrictive. Many users find these types of policies to be inconvenient and the usability of such features may not be feasible for some users.
When a device is configured to display a preview of received data, such as all incoming text messages, the device indiscriminately displays the text messages regardless of the content. Even when a device is in a locked state, lock screen notifications revealing sensitive information allow anyone who has physical or visual access to the device to learn this information without providing any sort of credentials (e.g., a password, swipe pattern, fingerprint scan or face scan). If such lock screen notifications reveal sensitive information, the information may present a privacy and/or security risk. Such shortcomings of existing systems can also compromise other security measures, such as a computer system using text messages as part of a two-factor authentication process.
Therefore, there remains a technical need to provide an improved lock screen for computing devices that reduces the likelihood of displaying sensitive information on the lock screen.